The Waning Moon
by The Bound Fenrir
Summary: 33 years ago, a cataclysm threatened all of pony kind. Princess Celestia used her powers to divert the eminent disaster, but some ponies were trapped in a magical void before they could be saved. now those ponies have returned to equestria. OC


**After my long sojourn into the deepest darkness and found the most horrid things in existence, I have returned to show them to you, my readers, faithful and new. I have brought with me the horrors of the underworld, and the most terrible of torture devices. With them I will paint the sky black as pitch for all eternity within your very souls!**

**Or not. You know what, I'm feeling more cartoony than grim. Hmm, did I bring anything cartoony from my travels…no, not that…I know I have something around here somewhere!...no, Dante's Inferno is most definitely NOT cartoony…aha! Here we go! This will satisfy my need for a happy story! If my readers have a problem with my chosen subject, they can simply not read it. it's their choice!**

Moon Wane groaned as he stretched his stiff legs.

"How long have I been asleep?" the dark purple Pegasus groaned to no-one in particular, glowing his pale mane out of his eyes.

"Thirty three years, three months, and three days, exactly. If you care to remember, we expected as much when the rift began to fall." the disgruntled pony looked up at the offending-ly happy voice.

"Aw, man! I had hoped you were just a remnant from some crazy dream." Moon Wane somehow managed to keep a straight face as Danae, the burnt red baby dragon who had so cheerfully responded to his first question, instantly became as grumpy looking as someone should expect, having just woken up.

"Well!" Danae humphed at him irritably, "I guess I won't tell you what has changed in the last thirty-three and a quarter years then!" and with that turned around and began walking down the shadowy hall and away from him.

"Wait! I was joking, and you know it! Now get back here before I have to come after you!" Moon Wane didn't mean for it to come out quit so abusive sounding, but that's what he got for thinking before speaking. Danae turned around, her face in mock horror. He sighed in relief; if she was using mock horror, then she wasn't actually offended.

"Well…I didn't know you were such a brute, Moon Wane. I should hope being trapped in a magic-induced sleep and imprisoned in a pseudo-realm for thirty-three years would teach you to value your companions, especially the one who chose to stay with you during the ordeal!" Danae grinned as she returned the short distance, to lean on Moon Wane's back. "But I suppose a girl has to take what she's got after all, and all I have is this teenage, self-absorbed, snot-nosed, oblivious, short-tempered…"

"Ok, ok, I get it: I'm not perfect, can we hurry this up a little? I'm kinda curious what DID happen the last three years!" Moon Wane turned his head around, and was just in time to see Danae pluck one of his feathers. "Ouch!"

"…Impatient, bossy, and territorial Pegasus." Danae jumped back as Moon he bucked at the sudden pain, and easily dodged the half-playful blow. "Ooh, I forgot violent, didn't I?"

"Excuse me, Lord Moon Wane, but after a quick census, it would appear that you are the most senior pony who managed to enter the safety zone in time." Both the Pegasus and the dragon jumped as the gruff voice came out of the shadows. After a moment, though, the pony behind the voice stepped forward, his helmet proclaiming him to be a palace guard. Moon Wane glanced around for the first time since waking up, and realized just where he was; the main hall of the village temple, and it was mere minutes away from early morning twilight. He was thrown into his memories of the events just before the gates had closed. He and Danae had been amongst the last to make it, and it had been close. The collapsing rift had been right behind them, and Twilight Velvet had reached over and bitten Moon Wane by the tail, literally throwing him the last few meters in the last moment. After the safety spells had activated, Moon Wane realized, he must have slid along the ground in magic-induced sleep. A sense of dread began to creep into Moon Wane's heart.

"Twilight? What of my aunt? What happened to her," Moon Wane glanced at the emblem on the pony's harness, "Knight-at-Hooves?" the palace guard's visible sag at his question was all the answer he needed. "No! It can't be! Nothing could stop her! Nothing!" Moon Wane felt Danae's claws stroking his back down the gap between his wings, where it felt best, as she spoke from his side.

"I'm so sorry, Moon Wane." The palace guard seemed to be unsure whether he should be a sympathetic shoulder or a gruff soldier, and appeared to be trying to shoot the middle ground. It wasn't working very well. "Knight-at-Hooves, do we know anything at all?" the pony shook his head slowly.

"No, Lady Danae, we only know that she wasn't in the safe-zone when the spells triggered." Moon Wane felt like curling up into a ball and weeping himself into oblivion, but his raising kicked in and reminded him of how the conversation had started; He was the default leader of the only currently known survivors of the collapsing rift. Trying to put on a tough face, he addressed the palace guard.

"How many do we have? And how many of them are well enough to stand against any dangers that may be awaiting us outside the safety zone? I'm assuming the wards are still up, as planned?" the guard noted the stiff, authoritative voice of the youth and saw it for what it was, a ruse, but honored the good attempt.

"We have something to the sound of 300, and anything from 25 to 230 of them may be capable, depending on just what kind of dangers you mean. At most we have 140 trained soldiers, but we do not yet know how many of them are currently in fighting condition." Moon Wane nodded, and began the walk towards the double doors out of the temple.

"Danae, what's happened while we were under the wards?"

"Minimal variation from expected geographical shifts, although the forests to the east seem to have lost a certain level of malignity in the last several weeks, cause unknown. My spells are detecting settlements nearby. My first guess would be the remains of the villages that were there before the rift, but it would seem that these settlements are much larger than that. The nearest one is within 5 minutes brusque cantor from our current location, which is an estimated 20 meters off where we should have been. This is likely due to a geographic sink that was predicted, which would have lowered the local landmasses. When we returned from the pseudo-plane, we returned to the exact same spot, leaving us floating in the air. We have, of course, returned to earth since our arrival. We are detecting a significant drop in magic levels from the expected, but there are several strong signals coming from the nearby settlement I mentioned a moment ago. No detectable remnants of the rift, or any side-effects, save possibly the drop in magic levels.

"Without leaving the safety zone, I cannot tell anything more." Danae's precise choice of words was something familiar to Moon Wane, and he drew strength from its steadiness. He managed to step out of the temple with his head held high like the leader he needed to be, instead of with it hanging like the child he felt like.

"First things first, we need to find out how many fighting-capable ponies we have, and get those that are wounded to first aid. Unless there is a better position, I suggest that all those in need of medical attention be moved into the temple. Knight-at-Hooves, I'll defer to you on where to gather the troops. I want all the Pegasi who are capable to meet with me once we have everything else under control." The guard backed away as he moved to relay the orders to those who would need them. Moon Wane felt Danae's eyes on him from behind, and he knew that if he looked at her right now, he would see sympathy. He needed sympathy right now, but if he also couldn't afford the loss of mental fortitude that would come with it. "Danae, where is the best place to view the nearby settlement from?"

"From there, atop that hill."  
>"Come with me, please." He opened his wings as wide as they would, and tested the wind. It was low, and cool, perfect for an early morning flight.<p>

He leveled his wings with the ground and made a short dash forward, flapping downwards with his wings simultaneously. He felt the wind build under them as he shoved off the ground with his hooves, flapping again at the same moment, and became airborne. With a few quick flaps he quickly rose several feet, at which point he fell into a slower, steady rhythm, and flew up to the point Danae had indicated. He turned as he landed, and saw Danae walking up the steep slope of the hill, giving him a jealous look. Danae's wings were not developed enough yet for actual flight.

As Danae climbed up the last part of the hill, Moon Wane gave his friend a hug with one wing, and then focused back on his duties. It wasn't hard to find the settlement in question, especially because it was right where he had expected to see the village from his memory. This was no village, however, but a large town. A hint of sunlight was just beginning to peak over the horizon, and he could see a tall building, a palace maybe, dominating the town, with several smaller, and yet still large buildings surrounding it. Despite the earliness of the morning, He could just make out the signs of movement in the streets. No doubt their arrival had been very loud, especially because the slab of land they stood on would have fallen through the air.

"Any idea what kind of creatures are living in the town?" he asked.

"No, but we won't have to wait long to find out. Look." Danae pointed to a street that lead out o the town. There was a large amount of movement, and it looked like something, or somethings, were leaving the town and headed their direction. Moon Wane frowned. What should he do? If these beings were violent, there would be more than enough of them in the town to overwhelm their pitiful defenses. If they were peaceful, then they would be valuable and necessary allies while the ponies rebuilt what they had lost. Danae checked one of the spells she had set up, and jumped. "Um, it would seem that the force moving towards us has more magic within it than the rest of the town combined." Moon Wane's eyebrows rose higher than he thought possible. That sounded like sending a powerful attack squad.

He turned to ask Danae what else she could detect, but as he did so he saw that there were 5 pegasi waiting patiently just beyond hearing. The Knight-at-Hooves had worked fast, but Moon Wane noted with a note of sadness that all of them looked to be about his own age, and none of them had on the armor that would signify combat training. This was not the recon force he had hoped for. He waved them over, and addressed them.

"I had planned to send you to perform recon on the nearby settlement, and find out if we could expect peace or violence from them, but it would seem they are already sending a force towards us. We don't know if they are an attack force, or a diplomatic party, but we do know they are carrying high levels of magic." Moon Wane saw the apprehension in the faces of the pegasi, except for one who seemed to be smiling hopefully. He sighed, and continued. "I'm going to need you to perform recon on this party instead. We're going to stay as far from them as possible, but we must find out if the party is offensive, so we WILL make visual contact." Danae turned at the word 'we'.

"Moon Wane, what do you mean 'we'? You are needed here in order to lead!" Danae's concern was almost palpable.

"Maybe, but if the force is bringing high level magic then the force I send must have a way to defend themselves if necessary. The only one who knows enough about magic for that is you. You have to go with them, and I'm the only one with the proper harness to carry you. This isn't up for discussion, Danae." She frowned worriedly for a few seconds, then nodded.

"You're right. But you had better set up some chain of command here before you leave." Moon Wane nodded at the begrudging dragon.

"Of course." He turned his head back to the waiting pegasus, "if you'd walk with me, I'd like to know your names before we head out." Moon Wane began the walk down the hill, and towards where several ponies in armor were collecting. The pegusus that had looked happy earlier landed just behind Moon Wane, the others falling in behind.

"Oh, wow, this is cool. I get to fly with the legendary Moon Wane! This has got to be the best morning I've ever had. Oh, yeah! My name is Sunbeam! I can't describe just how much of an honor it is to get to fly with you, Lord Moon Wane! You are so cool!" Moon Wane turned and looked at Sunbeam, his yellow coat and electric blue mane as bright as his personality, and wondered how a pony could be so energetic.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sunbeam. I look forward to flying with you." Especially because the headwinds will drown you out, he thought to himself. Another of the pegasi came up beside him; this one had a silky-looking blue mane, and a glossy silver coat.

"Lord Moon Wane, it is an honor to meet you. My name is Subtlety. It is also an honor to meet you, Miss Danae Longwing." Subtlety somehow managed to bow while still walking. Danae blushed, and Moon Wane was sure he was doing the same.

"Ah…thank you. It's a pleasure to fly with you." Moon Wane managed to answer. He had never been addressed with that much deference before, and he didn't know how to deal with it. Subtlety fell back, making room for a green-coated pony with a yellow mane. Moon Wane smiled, recognizing this Pegasus.

"Moon Wane, it's good to see you made it. Never thought I'd be following your orders, though." The pony smiled at his friend.

"Terrastone, it feels good to see a familiar face. Your mother?" Terrastone nodded, though the smile was replaced with grim determination.

"She's fine. But I understand your aunt wasn't so lucky. How are you holding up?" Terrastone asked, concerned for his friend. Moon Wane felt his head and tail sag, despite himself.

"Only just barely. I don't think it's really sunk in yet. I'm not going to last, but I don't have the luxury of mourning until after I look to the safety of the ponies." Terrastone nodded and laid his wing on Moon Wane's back.

"I'm here if you need me, man." With that Terrastone stepped aside, allowing a pegasus with a tan coat and black mane to come alongside him. This one had a large cowboy hat on, and Moon Wane wondered how he kept from losing it when flying.

"Well, Mr. Moon Wane, I'm right sure that this is goin' to be the most unusual recon squad that ever flew. I'm called Jack. Jack Stetson." Moon Wane nodded knowingly as the stallion spoke in a thick western accent. That explained the hat; westerns always managed to keep their hats on, despite even the strongest of headwinds. He once knew a guy named Indy…

"I think you're right, Jack. But it will certainly be well rounded." Jack laughed at that, and slowed down, allowing the 5th and final pegasus to come shoulder to shoulder with Moon Wane. This one had a pale grey coat, and a misty white main. Moon Wane waited expectantly, but the pegasus just kept glancing at him and then looking away. "Um…hi?" Moon Wane smiled as invitingly as he could. The pony looked like he was about to jump out of his skin.

"h-h-h-hi. i-i-i-t's nice to meet you…" Moon Wane frowned, trying to understand the soft-spoken pony.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"it's…it's…it's…nice to meet you." The pony looked like he was about to bolt. Moon Wane struggled for a moment between letting it drop, or asking his name.

"…nice to meet you too…um…what's your name?" Moon Wane wondered if this pony would be good at anything except running away.

"oh…yeah…I'm…I'm…Boltflight…" Moon Wane nodded, and Boltflight took it as a sign to leave and fell back as fast as his name suggested.

As they walked up to the small, almost pitiful force of soldiers, Moon Wane turned to the Knight-at-Hooves, who was ordering them into the semblance of a fighting force.

"Knight-at-Hooves, there is a small force coming this direction, and they are giving of signs of powerful magic. Danae and I will be accompanying the recon force to determine if they are friend or foe. Should the force appear offensive we will immediately return here, and Danae will cast a red flare spell. If they seem peaceful, we'll return anyway, casting a green flare spell." The Knight-at-Hooves seemed about to object, but then thought through the reasoning. "Who's the most senior ranking pony we have, after me?"

"That would be…me, Lord Moon Wane."Moon Wane nodded; he'd expected as much.

"Then you are in command of the forces until my return." He waited until the Knight-at-Hooves nodded his understanding, and then turned and took to the air, not bothering to wait for Danae to climb aboard. Sure enough, as he took off he felt her claws grabbing the straps of the harness, tying herself in.

Within a few moments they were high enough to clearly see the force coming from the settlement. It was making excellent time, but was not moving fast enough to be rushing. Moon Wane felt his harness shift as Danae adjusted the straps to make sure she wouldn't fall out of it mid-flight. "What do you think, Danae? Friendly or hostile?" After a few moments of silence, He sighed. "I can't see you gesture. You're on my back, remember?"

"Oops. Sorry; habit. I don't know if their friendly or not. Isn't that the point of this recon force? That said, "The rift would have destroyed almost all sentient creatures, so I am surprised to see so large a settlement in existence so shortly after the rift. The odds of that happening are small enough to suggest that any further predictions are going to be unsure at best. I do hope, however, that what we see is a peaceful force." Danae's voice was calm, but there was a nervous edge to it that Moon Wane felt himself.

"Me too…" They were getting closer to the force now, close enough to make out that there were only 6 of them. It was weird; they almost looked like ponies from up here…

"Wow, hey, Moon Wane, I could be wrong, but they look like fellow ponies! Let's go say hi!" Sunbeam fell into a dive before Moon Wane could respond.

"Wait, Sunbeam! We shouldn't land until after we've returned to the camp!" Moon Wane dove after the energetic pegasi. Despite Sunbeam's early start, Moon Wane was faster, and quickly came alongside him.

"But if they're ponies, then they must be friends, right?" Sunbeam called, suddenly rising several feet before Moon Wane could cut him off.

One of the beings took to the air, and at that exact moment the sun reached the horizon, and beams of sunlight washed across the plains. By now they were much closer, and Moon Wane could now see that the group was, in fact, a group of ponies. The one in the air was a Pegasus, with a pale-blue coat and rainbow main and tail. Her wings flexed with all the grace of a dove, and with the strength and speed of an eagle. Despite the fact that Moon Wane was travelling downwards, and was assisted by gravity, This Pegasus was coming up faster than he was going down.

"Woah…"Moon Wane breathed, only just remembering to pull up before he ran into the mare.

"Hey! What's the rush? There a race or something?" the mare sounded like she was asking to join the imagined race, and had already moved as though to come alongside them. Wow she was fast.

"Um, no. We weren't sure who or what was coming, so we came to find out." Moon Wane knew he should be pulling up to return to a safer distance, but somehow he didn't feel like it at the moment.

"Well, it was us, obviously. My name's Rainbow Dash. What's yours?" Rainbow Dash had visibly drooped when Moon Wane had said there was no race.

"I'm, uh, Moon Wane." by now the others had fallen in behind him. Sunbeam, fortunately enough, was staying alongside them.

"Nice to meet you, Moon Wane. So you all are here wondering who we are? That's silly; you are the guys who dropped out of thin air! I saw it myself from my house!" Rainbow Dash laughed. About that time, Moon Wane heard a voice from below, and turned to look down. There was another Pegasus coming up, and she was trying to call to Rainbow Dash.

"Rainbow…Rainbow, Twilight Sparkle is wondering why you aren't coming down…" This Pegasus had a yellow coat and a pink mane, and she was almost as soft spoken as Boltflight. Rainbow smiled down at the mare.

"Oh, because we're still introducing ourselves." The mare glanced at Moon Wane, like she was sizing him up, "How about we race down to the ground? Last one there's a rotten egg!" Moon Wane felt the pegasus' energy catching, and called to Danae on his back as he fell into a dive, mere moments behind Rainbow.

"Send out the green flare! No need to make the others more nervous than we have too!" and felt a surge of magic from his back as Danae cast the spell with a disappointed sigh.

"How did I know something like this would happen? You never follow the plan, even when it's your idea in the first place!" Moon Wane made a mental note to apologize to Danae later, but then let his awareness of his surroundings focus in on the important things: The wind, his wings, his opponent, and the finish line.

His opponent was ahead of him, but only just barely. The wind was to his advantage, because his opponent was blasting a hole in the wind streams, allowing him to ride the currents behind her. At the same time, he was at a disadvantage because he was in a harness, which was impeding his wings' movement. For a brief moment, he considered removing it, but decided that he would lose more time catching Danae later than he would gain losing it now.

With all the momentum he could muster, he pushed out of the wind stream and alongside his opponent. Once he was alongside her, her eyes shot over to him in something between surprise and anger, and then she accelerated. Moon Wane dug deep and somehow found enough to keep up with the lightning-fast Pegasus.

The distance between them and the ground was shortening rapidly now, and he recognized what it was going to come down to: a game of chicken. The first person to pull up would be the last person to land, and therefore the loser. But if one of them didn't pull up they'd crash into the ground, and at these speeds they would have more than a bruised pride.

Moon Wane glanced over at his opponent, only to see that she was doing the same at him. The two looked into each other's eyes, each gauging the courage of the other, and neither liked the odds they saw there. The distance left to pull up was getting smaller and smaller: 200 meters, 170 meters, 120 meters, 80 meters, 40 meters, 10 meters!

"DAMMIT!" Moon Wane yanked back with everything he had, and just barely managed to come to a hover 4 inches from the ground. He quickly glanced over at Rainbow.

She was 3 inches from the ground.

Moon Wane dropped to the ground with a sigh.

"HAha! I win! Not like there was any doubt, of course, but still!" Rainbow laughed. Moon Wane growled.

"I'll admit you won this round, but there WILL be a rematch, and then, I won't have to worry about the safety of my passenger!" as he spoke, Moon Wane turned to look at the other ponies in the…well; he guessed they were an expeditionary force. Aside from Rainbow Dash and the yellow Pegasus who was still far up in the air with the rest of his recon group, there were four others: two unicorns, and two earth-bound ponies. The first pony had a pink coat with a slightly darker pink mane, and the other had an orange coat with a blonde mane, and also had a cowboy hat on. Moon Wane mentally shook his head at the odds. The first unicorn had a smooth, white coat with a curly dark-purple mane and tail. The last of unicorn and, if Moon Wane was any judge of character, the leader of this group, was a unicorn with a magenta/purple coat and darker purple mane and tail, with hot-pink highlights. Something about this last unicorn reminded Moon Wane of his aunt Twilight Velvet, but he couldn't place it. On her back was a purple dragon, likely no older than Danae, not taking into account that she had gone through thirty three years in magic stasis. He was staring at something behind Moon Wane with a dreamy look in his eyes.

"Um…hi."He suddenly wished he hadn't joined the race; then at least he wouldn't be the only one all these cute mares were staring at.

"Hey, Twilight, they're a bunch of pegasuseseseses…whatever, they're all flying ponies like me. Anyway, so I won the race down here by a mile! What you'd expect from the fastest Pegasus in Equestria, right?" Rainbow liked like she had puffed up a bit over her win, and somehow still had enough breath after that breakneck skydive to boast. Wait, had she said Twilight?

"Hey, um, what did you…"

"Hello, I'm Twilight Sparkle. It's a pleasure to meet you. What's your name?" Ah, Twilight SPARKLE. Moon Wane understood now. He nodded to himself.

"My name is Moon Wane. I'm sorry for the disturbance me and my friends have caused. I can explain what happened, but it's a long story, and I'd prefer to tell it only once." Twilight Sparkle nodded understandingly. A light gust of wind told Moon Wane that his friends had arrived, and the shy yellow Pegasus landed over next to the orange pony with the cowboy hat.

"Well, time for introductions! I'm Pinky Pie!" the pink mare jumped forward excitedly. "And these are my friends Applejack," she indicated the cowgirl, "…Rarity," She indicated the creamy-white unicorn, "…Fluttershy," She indicated the shy pegasus, "…Twilight Sparkle, and of course you've already met Rainbow Dash." Pinky Pie indicated the last two. "I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say it's nice to meet you and we're going to be the best of friends!" Moon Wane wondered for a moment about the sanity of this mare, but then remembered Sunbeam, who himself seemed to be already stepping forward to introduce his own group, and decided that there were just people that insanely happy.

"I'm sure you're right! My name's Sunbeam, and this here is Moon Wane (he's royalty, he just doesn't like to admit it), and this is Jack Stetson (he's really cool, like some kind of western hero!), and this is Terrastone (He's a friend of Moon Wane's, but I don't really know much about him), and this is Subtlety (He's really showy, isn't he?), and we came here because we were worried that you were an attack force, but obviously you're not so now we can all relax and throw a big party! I'm great at making party favors!" Sunbeam looked like he was about to explode with happy thoughts, and Moon Wane only just managed to stop himself from taking a step back to avoid the blast radius.

"That's so cool! Me too! We'll have to make a whole bunch to cover everyone from both towns!" Pinky Pie didn't even seem to notice that the rest of her friends looked about as excited about this party as Moon Wane was, Twilight Sparkle included.

"Ahem…?" Danae coughed pointedly, having just finished climbing out of the harness. It didn't take long to put on, but for some reason it seemed to take forever to get out of. Sunbeam looked horror-stricken for a moment, then turned to the rest.

"I'm so sorry I completely forgot! This is Danae (she's a young dragon, but Subtlety refered to her as Lady Danae. I don't know if he just always calls girls 'Lady' or if Danae actually has that title, but either way she apparently knows more magic than even Moon Wane, and he's awesome at the more subtle kinds of it!)" Danae gave Sunbeam a look fit to wither a forest, but the Pegasus had all but forgotten that already and looked like he was about to go back to planning this spontaneous party. Pinky Pie had, however, also assumed a horror-stricken look.

"OMIGOSH! I can't believe I forgot him!" She indicated the baby dragon sitting on Twilight Sparkle's back. He still looked dumbstruck, and was even swaying a little back and forth. "This is Spike! He's a baby dragon, and Twilight Sparkle's assistant! He's usually really smart, but right now he looks broken. Twilight did you break him? I hope not he's really nice sometimes, and he always seems to be helping you. I think you'd…" At the broken comment, Twilight Sparkle's eyebrows shot up, and she turned her neck around to examine the dragon.

"Oh, wow. I wondered why he was so silent! Help him off my back! How long has he been like this! Oh, I hope he isn't hurt somehow!" they all quickly gathered around the dragon as he was carefully pulled off of Twilight's back (without any harness, Moon Wane noted in passing) and onto the ground, where everyone just stared and wondered what to do. Moon Wane turned to look at Danae, who was doing her absolute best to look un-interested. He tilted his head pointedly, raising his eyebrows.

"You're the most knowledgeable about dragons present right now. Feel like helping?" Danae rolled her eyes and started walking forward.

"Of course, but I don't think he's actually hurt…" Danae walked over. As soon as she entered the circle, Spike's eyes shot to her like she was a beacon in the middle of a storm. Terrastone let out a barking laugh when he saw that and stepped back. All the ponies looked at him questioningly.

"That dragon isn't hurt. Far from it! He's love-struck! Poor guy doesn't know what to do with himself. Give him a good slap to the face, he'll come too." Terrastone nodded at Danae knowingly, who's facial scales turned from their usual burnt red to a bright magenta. Rainbow Dash quickly stepped forward and gave Spike a slap, and sure enough he spluttered and shook his head violently.

"What happened? Last thing I remember is Rainbow Dash was coming down really fast and was being chased by a Pegasus with aaaauuuuhhh…" The sentence fell short as he realized that Danae was standing right in front of him. He turned from purple to scarlet faster than Danae had, and then everyone just stood there for an awkward second.

"Well, at the risk of sounding rude, I'm afraid we have to say goodbye for now." Moon Wane said, backing away so that he could meet everyone's faces. Sunbeam looked like he was about to object, but Moon Wane plowed onward. "The Knight-at-Hooves will be throwing a tantrum by now, and its best we explain everything before he decides that we've been captured by enemy hands. As soon as we've settled things over there, we will return to here and have a proper explanation." Moon Wane sighed as he saw the expectant faces on Sunbeam and Pinky Pie, "…and we'll have a party!" Moon Wane sagged in defeat, cheers rising up from the two hyper ponies. With quick farewells, the two groups split, and the pegasi took to the air. As they did so, Moon Wane felt rather than noticed that Danae was deep in thoughtful silence.

"What are you thinking about? That other dragon, Spike?" Moon Wane asked, after checking that he was beyond easy hearing of the others.

"What? Oh, no. I mean, I don't even know anything about him yet. Why would I be thinking about him? That's a silly idea…actually, I'm thinking about the implications of the settlement being habited by ponies. That means that there were survivors. And not just survivors, but lots and lots of survivors. I got the feeling that Twilight Sparkle was of a different culture than the others, and a quick scanning spell I cast proved me right: she's native to a different settlement than this one, and it is much bigger. So there are at least hundreds of ponies who have been living their lives after the rift, when we expected to find none at all. It's only been 33 years, so there's no way that a few survivors repopulated that quickly. I'm thinking that Princess Celestia must have figured something out that saved a large number of the ponies." Moon Wane followed her train of thought.

"That would mean," he contemplated, "that odds are good that Aunt Twilight survived!" Moon Wane felt upbeat already, the sun warming his backside as he flew.

"And also, have you considered the weather?" Moon Wane frowned at that. He turned to look at his passenger. She pointed behind them towards the horizon. "It's day." His frown deepened at that. "It's been 33 years since the rift fell. Thirty. Three. Years. What was going to happen in 33 years from when the rift fell?" Moon Wane's jaw dropped as he connected the dots.

"Night Mare Moon."

"Exactly. Because the sun is up we can assume that Princess Celestia won the confrontation. If that's so, we can assume that she wouldn't kill her sister. If she won, then the elements of Harmony would have been used, freeing her of the dark jealousy within her heart. She would have returned to being Princess Luna…" Danae was about to continue, but Moon Wane finished the sentence for her.

"…my Mom."

**this chapter is really more of an introductory than a story, but i'm hoping to use it as a set up for future stories. before you go spamming the review button asking how a teenage pegasus can be the son of Princess Luna, who has been sealed in the moon for 1000 years, it's all part of a very complicated plan i hope to develope over several sub-stories. because i couldn't fit it into the story, here is a list of the OC ponies' cutie marks:**

**Moon Wane: a white cresent moon overlaying the left edge of a black circle.**

**Terra Stone: a white-capped mountain with two smaller mountains to either side**

**Sunbeam: a beam of light shooting out of a cartoony sun.**

**Sublety: a paintbrush that looks almost translusient, being almost the same shade as his coat.**

**Bolt Flight: black and white racing stripes, in a vaguely wing shaped pattern**

**Jack Stetson: a golden spur**


End file.
